Obtain information about the USPTO and Intellectual Property through walk-in services.

Search existing patents and trademarks on designated workstations.

Attend workshops, trainings, conferences and roundtables tailored to the needs of the community at all levels.

Participate in programs designed to support and foster STEM education with an emphasis on innovative learning.

Use interview rooms for applicants to connect with working at USPTO headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia and across the country.

Deliver technical training from experts in the region to patent examiners working around the country

Meet with our strategic Federal partners, like the Small Business Administration and other bureaus at the Department of Commerce, on programs for the small business and entrepreneurial community during scheduled office hours at our San Jose location.

Gain remote access to Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) proceedings at USPTO headquarters and other regional offices in the future. The office also has a hearing room to host PTAB as well as Trademark Trial and Appeal Board proceedings.

Participate in public tours of the San Jose facility, offered periodically through our events page on this site.

PLEASE NOTE: All new patent applications or correspondence related to patent prosecution may be submitted using EFS-Web, the USPTO's Web-based patent application and document submission system. Using EFS-Web, you can submit documents in PDF format directly to the USPTO within minutes.

Visiting us

Our office is located in a federal facility, therefore visitors must have a valid form of government-issued identification (Driver's License or passport)to gain access, and are subject to security screening.

There is metered street parking on S. Fourth Street and surrounding streets, as well as public parking garages, including the Fourth Street Garage (which is not available to motorcycles). The USPTO does not provide parking validation.

New! Patent Specialist 1-on-1s now available!

The USPTO is excited to announce the ability for entrepreneurs and independent inventors to schedule a twenty minute 1-on-1 in-person meeting with a USPTO patent prosecution specialist to discuss the patent process at our regional office in San Jose City Hall. The meetings will provide individuals with an opportunity to seek assistance with their inventions and the patent process, and serve as a complement to our ongoing educational programming. Register now for appointments through July!

June 15, 2016, 1 p.m. - 4 p.m. PTPatent Cooperation Treaty (PCT) Seminar
USPTO Silicon Valley Office
Experts from the USPTO provide an overview of PCT and include detailed description of the procedural aspects of filing an international application under the PCT, international search and preliminary examination, and national phase entry into the United States.

The Silicon Valley, known as one of the most prodigious and innovative entrepreneurial communities in the country, was selected as our West Coast presence to assist the USPTO in fostering and protecting innovation. Looking for information focused on startups? Visit our Startup Resources page.

Employment

The Silicon Valley regional office has benefited and will continue to benefit from hiring local talent for both examiners and PTAB judges within the intellectual property and technical fields.

If you are interested in working for the USPTO please visit our careers page. To search for open positions, visit www.usajobs.gov and search "USPTO."

Currently there are vacancy openings for Utility Patent Examiners for the San Jose office. Apply by June 9, 2016 through USAJOBS.gov, search "USPTO" in San Jose. There is also a vacancy opening for a Regional Outreach Officer in our San Jose office. Apply by May 31, 2016.

Correspondence Related to Patent Prosecution

All new patent applications or correspondence related to patent prosecution may be submitted using EFS-Web, the USPTO’s Web-based patent application and document submission system. EFS-Web utilizes standard Web-based screens and prompts to enable you to submit patent application documents in PDF format directly to the USPTO within minutes. In the event you do not use EFS-Web when filing new patent application(s) and correspondence relating to patent prosecution with the USPTO, these documents must be hand delivered to the USPTO in Alexandria, VA or mailed via the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) to the USPTO at the address below to receive the date of deposit with the USPS:

Commissioner for Patents, P.O. Box 1450, Alexandria, VA 22313-1450.

Please note – To receive the benefit of a certificate of mailing or Express Mail, new applications and other patent correspondence sent via the USPS to the USPTO must be addressed to the Alexandria, VA address above. See 37 C.F.R. §§ 1.8, 1.10. New applications and other patent correspondence sent via USPS to the USPTO at an address other than the Alexandria, VA address will receive a filing or deposit date that is the actual date of receipt of the correspondence by the USPTO, and not the date the document was deposited with the USPS. Also, effective November 15, 2011, any regular non-provisional utility application filed by mail or hand-delivery will require payment of an additional fee of $400 ($200 for small entities). The only way to avoid paying this additional feeis by filing any non-provisional utility application via EFS-Web.

Please see http://www.uspto.gov/patents/process/file/efs/index.jsp for more information about EFS-Web. Full technical support for EFS-Web is available through the Patent Electronic Business Center (EBC) by calling 866-217-9197 from 6 a.m. to 12 midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST), Monday through Friday, except federal holidays.

As the Director of the Silicon Valley United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), John Cabeca carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and is responsible for leading the USPTO's west coast regional office in...